Idil Biret Concerto Edition,
Volume 6: Mozart—Piano Concertos Nos. 13 and 17. Idil Biret, piano; London
Mozart Players conducted by Patrick Gallois. IBA. $9.99.
C.P.E. Bach: Hamburg Symphonies,
Wq 182 and Wq 183. Kammerorchester ‘Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach’ conducted by
Hartmut Haenchen. Brilliant Classics. $11.99 (2 CDs).
Mozart: Davide Penitente.
Christiane Karg, soprano; Marianne Crebassa, mezzo-soprano; Stanislas de
Berbeyrac, tenor; Salzburger Bachchor and Les Musiciens du Louvre conducted by
Marc Minkowski; Académie équestre de Versailles with stage
direction and horse dressage by Bartabas (Clément Marty). C
Major DVD. $24.99.
Mozart’s music stands so far
above that of virtually all his contemporaries – excepting only Haydn – that it
is easy to forget that he was only one among many highly regarded composers of
his time. Indeed, he was not sufficiently well thought of to avoid the
financial difficulties that plagued him late in his brief life. Yet time after
time, hearing Mozart’s music today, listeners must marvel that so much of
lasting value was produced by one man who flourished within such a brief
period. The Idil Biret Concerto Edition
turns to Mozart for its sixth volume, showcasing both the composer and the
considerable skill that Biret, although usually considered a specialist more in
Romantic music than in the Classical era, brings to the performance of Mozart’s
music. Unlike a large number of the many releases from IBA, the Concerto Edition CDs offer recent
readings – in this case, recorded in December 2014. That means Biret was 73
when she made this recording, but a listener would never know that from the
bright, limpid readings and light pianistic touch she brings to the music, or
the apparently effortless way in which she weaves her piano solos into and
about the London Mozart Players under Patrick Gallois’ direction.
Interestingly, the text on the back of the CD contains reviews of Biret’s
Mozart performances dating to early 1953 (when she was 11 years old), 1963 and
1980 – all quite irrelevant to the music heard on this disc, except insofar as
they show that she has indeed had a career-long devotion to and excellence in Mozart’s
music. Certainly she handles the Piano Concertos Nos. 13 and 17 with firm
understanding, both intellectual and technical, and with a wonderful sense of
the music’s ebb and flow, its structure and its emotional evocations. Neither
of these bright major-key concertos (in C and G, respectively) is among
Mozart’s most profound: both have central movements marked Andante, for one thing, although Biret takes the one in No. 17
rather more slowly than that. But if there are more than a few hints of the galant style here, there are also significant
ways in which the works call on resources both pianistic and emotional; and
Biret, who among other things is a very cerebral and thoughtful performer, has
certainly delved into the music deeply and come up with performances offering a
fine sense of flow, plenty of bounce where that is appropriate, and periods of
thoughtfulness within individual movements (even though no entire movement in
either concerto is especially inward-looking). These are the performances of a
pianist comfortable in her knowledge of the music, sure in her technique, and
certain in a lifetime’s study of a composer who repays dedication by inviting
performers and listeners alike to find new things to explore each time his
music is heard. The CD is a fine addition to a series showcasing the ways in
which a mature Biret both reflects and expands upon the Biret who, when
younger, amazed so many who heard her with her fine technique and the depth of her
musical understanding.
The Mozart concertos date
from 1783 and 1784, respectively, and an appreciation of just how far above his
contemporaries Mozart stood is furthered by listening to some of the highly
popular music with which Mozart’s competed – such as the works of C.P.E. Bach
(1714-1788). The four symphonies “with 12 obbligato parts,” Wq183, date to
1776, and the six for strings, Wq182, to 1773. They were thus part of the
musical scene just when Mozart was making his way in it, although C.P.E. Bach
was based in Hamburg (with a publisher in Leipzig), while Mozart’s venues were
Salzburg and Vienna. If a direct comparison is therefore impossible, or at any
rate unnecessary, the fact remains that these very well-made Bach symphonies,
of which the composer was understandably proud, sound like the products of a
much earlier time than Mozart’s. All 10 symphonies are in three movements (the
Berlin School of the time, to which C.P.E. Bach adhered in these works,
considered minuets too light for this serious form), and all last between nine
and 12 minutes, about the length of most Vivaldi concertos. Yet these works are
not throwbacks: the Sturm und Drang
spirit appears frequently (although only one of the symphonies, No. 5 from
Wq182, is in a minor key), and the intense flow of ideas and strong dynamic
contrasts mark the works strongly and help explain their considerable
popularity in their time. These are very well-made pieces indeed, and receive
enthusiastic and knowing performances from the Kammerorchester ‘Carl Philipp
Emanuel Bach’ under Hartmut Haenchen on a new Brilliant Classics release. Yet
these pieces, for all their pleasantries, structural elegance and occasional
surprises (notably in swiftly changing dynamics), seem to come from a world and
time quite distant from Mozart’s. They represent one direction in which music
was going in the Classical era, and one to which many people – indeed, perhaps
most – gravitated. But they do not hold a proverbial candle to the
expansiveness and emotional involvement offered by the works of Mozart (and,
for that matter, Haydn): C.P.E. Bach’s symphonies are not so much a look
backward as a look ahead toward a dead end, while Mozart’s orchestral music was
largely responsible for opening up entire new vistas.
Just how far to take that newness,
though, was and remains a matter of opinion – and taste. The days of performing
Mozart with 100-plus-piece orchestras are largely over, but the impetus to
“improve” or rethink his works, particularly the less-known ones, remains very
much with us. A perfect example of this is the horse-enhanced (or at any rate
horse-focused) presentation of Davide
Penitente presented during Mozart Week 2015 in Salzburg. This oratorio is
something of a curiosity. Mozart was commissioned to write it in 1785 by the
Viennese Society of Musicians. It was to be for a Lenten benefit concert, and
that left Mozart short of time. So he did something as unusual for him as it
was common for Handel: he recycled some of his earlier music. The Kyrie
and Gloria from the unfinished Mass in C Minor became part of
this oratorio, which uses both the penitential and joyful psalms of David. The
choruses of Davide Penitente are particularly noteworthy, as are two new
solo arias, A te, fra tanti affanni (“In you, amid such tribulation”)
and Tra l’oscure ombre funeste (“Amid the dark grievous shadows”), both
of which open with long, expressive sections that are followed by faster ones
requiring considerable vocal virtuosity. Marc Minkowski leads the soloists,
chorus and Les Musiciens du Louvre adeptly, bringing out the sumptuous woodwind
writing particularly well, although the brass is not always entirely together.
But the primary focus of the performance, and of the C Major DVD on which it is
now available, is an equestrian one. It takes place in a summer-opera venue
called the Felsenreitschule, which dates to 1693 and whose name, “Stone Riding
School,” points both to the way it is carved into a cliff and to its original
purpose. Given the venue’s origin, the equestrian displays organized by Bartabas
(the performing name of horse trainer and impresario Clément
Marty) make sense. But only in that regard. Davide
Penitente has nothing whatsoever to do with horses, and it might as well
have been staged as a ballet as been offered with horses and riders. In fact,
the prancing and trotting of the horses is somewhat balletic here, but none of
it fits with the music in any meaningful way. The best use of horses comes in
the fast-paced chorus Cantiam le glorie
(“Let us sing the glories”), where the riders seem almost to be dancing on
horseback as their mounts become part of the scene. Clearly intended as an
unusual and dramatic visual spectacle, this Davide
Penitente is certainly a treat for horse lovers – but for lovers of Mozart,
not so much. This DVD is a (+++) release with a very specific target audience –
a presentation that shows how well Mozart can stand up under significant
reinterpretation, but that does not really add any understanding or
significance to the beauties that Mozart himself built into his score.
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